This invention relates to a flame retardant system and to its use in thermoplastic polymers.
Poly(arylene ether) resins have been blended with polyamide resins to provide compositions having a wide variety of beneficial properties such as heat resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength, hydrolytic stability and dimensional stability.
These beneficial properties are desirable in a wide variety of applications and the shapes and sizes of the parts required for these applications vary widely. As a result there is a variety of forming or molding methods employed such as injection molding, compression molding and extrusion. In addition, it is desirable for thermoplastic compositions to be flame retardant in many applications.
In the past, flame retardancy was typically achieved through the use of halogen containing flame retardants. Halogen containing flame retardants have gradually been supplanted by organophosphate ester flame retardants in some applications. Phosphinates have been suggested as an alternative to organophosphate ester flame retardants. However, the use of phosphinates as flame retardants in thermoplastic polymers does not always lead to the desired combination of physical properties and flame retardance. Accordingly, a need remains for phosphinate flame retardant system and a flame retardant thermoplastic composition comprising a phosphinates as we as articles comprising the flame retardant thermoplastic composition.